Category Archives: Finances/Giving

Eventually someone “will get lucky. As in real, real lucky.” That’s how one journalist described the current situation in the Mega Millions lottery. I would like to challenge that notion.

With the pot currently at $1.6 billion, if “someone” wins, they will have their entire life turned completely upside down, and much of it won’t necessarily be for the better.

How’s that, you might ask? I’ll give you two reasons…

Reason #1: The winner will think that their financial problems were solved. Nope. They simply exchanged one set of financial problems for another. Who do you trust to help you invest the money? How do you avoid being scammed by attorneys, investors, financial advisors? The more money you have, the money you have to worry about.

This instant gratification society loves things fast…as in, right now. Americans don’t just want to get rich, we want to get rich quick. If we can set aside the thought for a moment that all of us who are sitting a computer reading this are already rich, in terms of global standards, most of us probably don’t consider ourselves financially rich in terms of American standards. In fact, I suspect the vast majority of you would label yourselves as middle class.

If you desire to be rich monetarily, I strongly urge you to examine your motives. If you want to get rich quick, I must warn you: God does not look favorably upon the desire to get rich quick. Here are a couple of Scriptures that address this issue:

When the economy is going great, we tend to take if for granted. But when the wheels start coming off, it gets our attention. As a nation, we are at full attention. The current economic crisis can be traced to greed. This greed manifested itself in many Americans overindulging themselves because they could through credit.

According to the Bible, debt in and of itself is not evil. When God, through Moses, was establishing the laws for the people of Israel, He addressed the subject of borrowing and lending and how to pay someone back. So incurring debt is not a sin. But the Bible also speaks of being wise about debt and recognizing debt is not something one should pursue. The reverse is true: we should seek avoid or get out of debt. A couple of Bible verses come to mind:

In light of what is going on with our economy, an important question Christians need to be asking is when does a legitimate desire to work hard and be successful cross over into sinful greed?

Albert Mohler answers this question well in his blog entry this past Wednesday:

“The desire for a profit, for income, and for material gain is not in itself greed. The Bible clearly teaches that the worker is worthy of his hire and that rewards should follow labor, thrift, and investment.

Greed raises its ugly head when individuals and groups (such as corporations or retirement funds) seek an unrealistic gain at the expense of others and then use illegitimate means to gain what they want. Given the nature of this fallen world and the reality of human sinfulness, we should expect that greed will be a constant temptation. Greed will entice the rich to oppress the poor, partners in transactions to lie to one another, and investors to take irrational risks. All of these are evident in this current crisis.”